By Chris WittsMonday 9 May 2022Morning Devotions with Chris WittsFaithReading Time: 1 minute
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Transcript:
Everyone gets sad. Sometimes it’s part of being human. The experts tell me that sadness is an emotional pain associated with a feeling of loss, disadvantaged despair, grief, sorrow or even helplessness. An individual experiencing sadness can become quiet or withdraw themselves from others but it’s an emotion that we all feel from time to time. There’s nothing wrong with it.
The Reality of Sadness
If you go through periods of sadness, as humans we’re vulnerable to the hard knocks of life, no one is exempt from that. Sometimes these sad feelings only last a minute, other times they last a bit longer so you can end up feeling like you’re under a cloud of heaviness or sadness while other times it comes on you suddenly without warning, just like a rainstorm.
The mental health experts agree that all emotions are important and valuable including that feeling of sadness. They’ve all got their place and we need to learn to accept our emotions and even learn from them. Sadness is part of the ups and downs of life and you can learn to manage your sadness, and remember feeling sad does not mean you’re experiencing depression necessarily.
Imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have emotions, we’d be like Mr. Spock in Star trek. All his responses to situations seem to be just logical and never emotional, it would get pretty boring, wouldn’t it?
It’s okay to feel sad. Nothing wrong with that, providing that it’s only a temporary experience.
Now here’s the question how sad is too sad?
Feeling sad for a long period of time makes life really hard. It’s not good for your health.
The experts say if you’re continually sad for two weeks or more, you’re probably depressed and you should get some help. Most of us have grown up not really understanding what sadness means. We do know it’s the opposite of joy or happiness. We like someone who is always smiling, but what do we say to the person who is always sad? It can be a little bit embarrassing. Didn’t your parents teach you as a child to cheer up or stop crying, put on a happy face and we’ve got to contend with this lie, that joy triumphs everything and sadness needs to suppressed.
What The Bible says
Not so in the bible in the Old Testament, in Ecclesiastes Chapter three, the author says, “there is a time for everything,” – “A time to cry, A time to laugh, time to mourn and dance, …. a time to be quiet and a time to speak up,”.
So really it’s saying all the emotions are part of our lives, the positive and negative and they come from God. These are the things that make up our daily lives, the activities under heaven, the things of life, everyone is born with. It’s fair to say that everyone’s going to die and a whole lot of stuff happens in between weeping and laughing, silence and talking, love and hate. The highs and the lows, hope and despair, there is a strong connection between the way you think and the way you feel, it goes both ways.
The way you think affects your emotional state and your emotional state affects the way you think. When you’re feeling sad, you look at the world through a gloomy lens and you’re probably going to dwell on the negative. Maybe engage in some harsh self criticism and you predict that everything is going to end up poorly. Now, I’ve done that myself sometimes. Maybe you have.
The more you think about sad things, the worse you feel, and it can be a hard cycle to break. The bible describes many characters who went through intense times of
sadness and yet They still trusted God. In Psalm 42, the writer cried out to God; right now I am overwhelmed by my sorrow and pain with a broken heart. I do remember times before when I was with your people. They were the better days. Why am I so disturbed? Despite all my emotions, I will believe and praise the one who saves my life and is my life in the light of day, the eternal shows me his love.
And that’s the key. God says to the psalmist and to us, you’re my child and I love you with an everlasting love. Psalm 13:2 is another cry from the heart:
“How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day.”
God has made us in his image and likeness, he has created us to have a firm and solid foundation so that whenever we’re overwhelmed and saddened by life, we should remember that He who created us is fully aware of these feelings. God through his Son, Jesus Christ will guide us through all of them so long as we bring our cares and worries to him.
Let’s Pray
Dear God, sometimes my heart is weighed down by sorrow. We know Lord, this is part of humanity, melt the cloud of sadness Lord and bring to my life a sense of stability and trust regardless of how I feel today.
Amen.